Appearance: Really dark brown, close to opaque with a creamy tan head.

Smell: An interesting floral hop aroma. Never experienced it before.

Taste: This brew is very stout like, but with a big kick. Fruity and malty with burnt notes and some raisin flavours to round things off. It's also quite bitter which, again, is stressed as being very unusual. The hop flavour is unlike any other that I have tasted. There's some semi-astringent notes and loads of esters too. Alcohol is like vapor in your mouth -- very dominant.

Notes: Nothing to comapre it by, however it is very European in charater. Sheer bliss. (686 characters)

Smell: Major licorice. Fruity, ester and some solvent alcohols in the nose as well as some undertones of dark roasted malt.

Taste & Mouthfeel: Sturdy medium to full body with a rich complex maltiness of dark and toasted malts. On the sweet side with light earthy mineral and nutty flavours. Hints of roasted coffee and dark bread come to mind. Prune like fruitiness, alcohol is a little bit solvent with a broad range of esters to boot. Hop bitterness evens the brew and stays on the sidelines though.

Notes: The alcohol lands it as an Imperial Stout, perhaps not as thick as others but this may have been closer to what an Imperial Stout could have been. An amazing brew to say the least. (914 characters)

Tap @ Toronado SD. Poured jet black with dark ruby edges. Tiny ring of oily bubble on the top. No lacing, but could have been the glass. Currants, coffee, roasted malt, and chocolate. A bit thin for the style, big carbonation. Deep, rich currants-with-dark chocolate flavor. Subtle bretty taste with smoke and roasted malt. Tastes a more like a Belgian stout than a RIS. (370 characters)

Black throughout with a light brown cap that eventually leaves small, irregular lines down the glass.

Roasted malt, a touch of coffee, and a lot of dark fruits aroma, especially red grapes.

An interesting and unusual imperial stout, with the red grape flavors dominant, along with lots of roasted and black malt flavors, a bit of Belgian yeast tang, as well some mild coffee presence. Strange.

Medium to full mouthfeel with moderate carbonation.

A strange, unique, grape-forward stout. I wouldn't have this again, especially for the price. (593 characters)

Solid black appearance, big bottle-conditioned head of a full inch in height, tan and creamy. Fat ring laces. Muted aroma, some bit of far off chocolate and a touch of molasses. Interesting flavor, coffee roastiness but combined with prune and a spicy ester. Starts off soft, builds in yeasty and fruity components, and finishes with a java bite and a Belgian-style mustiness. An interesting take, it may compare most closely to Le Coq Imperial, but with traces of its heritage still lingering. A little expensive, but a nice beer for sure. Could have used a little more mouthfeel, alcohol level was sufficient.

Pours black with a one-finger tan head. The head recedes into a thin layer on top leaving solid lacing.

Smells of roasted malts with a sort of ashy tinge to it. Dark fruit aromas waft out from time to time and grow stronger as the beer warms.

Tastes good. Heavily roasted malt flavors with slight hints of dark fruits and slighter hints of tobacco. The ending is mildly bitter leaving a roasted flavor lingering on the palate. The alcohol is very well hidden.

Mouthfeel is good. It has a solid thickness with moderate carbonation.

Drinkability is good. I didn't have a problem finishing the glass and could have a few more.

Overall this was a very solid stout that has more dark fruits than most but not quite enough to be a "Belgian Stout". Definitely worth a shot. (799 characters)

A bit like a milk stout in sweetness but not too much so. At the high end of mouth and finish for a stout without a lot of chocolate or coffee finish. As good a beer as it is, it is way too expensive at $4.79 for a .33l bottle. To share a high end stout with a friend a Mackeson XXX is very close in taste at much less cost. (324 characters)

(Served in a dimple mug)Vintage 2007, best before April 2008A- This swing-top opens with a sharp loud pop and slowly the head rises up the neck. The very thick oatmeal-beige creamy head sits on a brown dense body of beer with a huge boiling carbonation of tiny bubbles. The head pushes above the glass never loosing its form and last for the full glass.

S- The light musty smell of fresh rain has a smooth dark malt nose and a hint of aged red wine vinegar. The smell is pretty clean overall.

T- The taste of dark roasted malt has a slight red wine tannin taste to it with a dark chocolate malt flavor to follow. The malt flavors are dark but have a very fruity quality with notes of prunes aswell before the soft malt flavor in the finish.

M- This beer has a medium-light mouthfeel with a slight watery texture and a light alcohol burn in the back of the throat as the beer warms.

D-This beer has some nice dark malt flavors and some subtle Belgian yeast character but it was a bit light and watery. This beer won’t stand up to age. (1,049 characters)

Pours a deep black with some hints of red/copper around the rim. a nice fizzy off white/gray head of foam. Nose is a bit earthy with some copper and chocolate notes and some faint dark fruit and roast. Taste follows with some bitter chocolate and dark malt. Some hops in here. an akward oliveness that hampers this one a bit. Getting better as this warms, tastewise. Mouthfeel is quite thin and a bit chalky. Drinkability however is quite good. Defenitely one of the easiest drinking 9%ers I have had. It is clear to me that this stout is made in belgium, as they seem to have issues with subpar viscosity when it comes to imperial stouts. These are just my thoughts. One worth trying, that I think may get somewhat better with a little bit of time. A fine beer. (762 characters)

A belgian dark strong ale tweaked to near imperial stout status. I couldn't ask for anything more!
Pours virtually black with just a trace of ruby around the edges. Gigantic fluffy, rocky tan head is as impressive as any I have seen. This is one beautiful beer.
Nose is stung with notes of dark chocolate, berry sweetness, and a strong spice of some sort (perhaps clove). Spicy hops too? Hard to decipher all that is going on here, but I am certain that a good deal of roastedness is evident.
Lots of dark chocolate riding on top of some burnt/expresso hues. Juicy black berries and dark fruit appear. Then comes a yeasty spice kick, which brings some heavy earthiness with it. Alcohol is slight and almost scotch-like. Faintly smoked. Some hops come in toward the end, adding a unique floral taste and bitterness. But they end up squashed under the chocolate-berry-roasted-smoky mix.
Highly charged, typical for a belgian.
Very smooth and creamy, typical for a stout.
It manages to find a middle ground in mouthfeel, and ends up being very drinkable.

Big time winner here. This one is a treat. Right up there on my list of favorites (1,157 characters)

A very good stout, smooth in a beautiful flip top directly fresh from Belgium, that "popped" twice from the carbonation. The added flavourings gave it a syrupy aroma with molasses. Not as thick as other Russians, but I could stay on this all night no problem. (259 characters)

Black in color with a deep tan head that holds well and leaves a good lacy surface coating and solid collar. No lace around the glass, however. Overall, a very nice appearance. The aroma is somewhat surprising in it's fresh, youthful, sweetness & fruity character. It's also fairly intricate with notes of sweet malt, rich dark fruit, some brown sugar and molasses, and limited roastiness. The body is medium-full with a solid and very-fine carbonation; giving a somewhat zesty - and oily- mouthfeel. The flavor is quite complex, offering different flavors throughout the range of the tasting including dark fruits, rum, chocolate, caramel, molasses, floral hops, berries, very creamy coffee, not so creamy coffee, and spent espresso grounds. These flavors are all fairly sweet in the mouth but the underlying bitterness keeps everything from whirling away; and the finish leaves a distinct bitterness at the back of the throat. The aftertaste lingers with some lightly sugary, grainy, and roasty notes. Still, the sweetness can become somewhat cloying towards the end of the bottle. The alcohol is very well hidden at first, but becomes more apparent toward the middle of the serving. An extremely enjoyable beer with great complexity. A very interesting and highly unique beer that probably deserves more than one tasting. Absolutely worth seeking out. (1,354 characters)